Letter: Marijuana legalization sets bad example

Some have argued that we should legalize marijuana because everyone is already smoking pot. Would we legalize murder because people still kill people? Clearly not, and yet this argument is commonly used to support pot. As responsible adults, we set the boundaries for our behavior; if the boundaries are violated, we should identify how to enforce the restrictions, rather than cave in to pot activists.

This past week, the Taunton Daily Gazette has published articles and opinion pieces promoting medical and recreational use of marijuana. Some of these pieces emphasize marijuana's medical effectiveness and portray the drug as harmless.

Unfortunately, marijuana reduces motivation, increases the risk of heart attacks, is linked to lung cancer and is addictive. The fact of whether marijuana is a gateway drug is not universally accepted. However, many, if not most heroin addicts started with pot.

Marijuana is not the same as alcohol; the only reason to smoke pot is to get high, while alcohol can be consumed without getting drunk.

Additionally, alcohol is metabolized within hours, but marijuana lingers in the body for weeks, in some cases up to 45 days after use.

Some have argued that we should legalize marijuana because everyone is already smoking pot. Would we legalize murder because people still kill people? Clearly not, and yet this argument is commonly used to support pot. As responsible adults, we set the boundaries for our behavior; if the boundaries are violated, we should identify how to enforce the restrictions, rather than cave in to pot activists.

Legalizing marijuana would send a clear message to the youth that pot is OK.

The result of such an irresponsible law would encourage increased use of teenagers' pot use with more health issues and a declining drive to succeed. We are seeing declining scores in math and science compared to other youth around the world, and we certainly don't want to make it even more difficult for our teenagers to compete with the world.

Those who are pushing for the legalization of marijuana use should be honest to the youth about the harmful effects of pot use.